CAIRO: Egypt s two main stock indexes ended flat on Monday as profit-taking kicked in after three straight sessions of gains, and real estate developer Talaat Moustafa shed 8.12 percent, traders said. The benchmark CASE 30 index slipped 0.14 percent to 8,438.06 points, while the well watched Hermes index lost 0.07 percent to 738.42 points. The broader CIBC-100 index, however, gained 1.62 percent to 411.11 points. Almost an hour before the end of the session, Talaat Moustafa Group had huge selling pressure. That sent negative sentiment to the rest of the market, said Wafik Dawood of Naeem Brokerage. Traders said the stock was responding to renewed market rumors about the firm s chairman. The company has denied unspecified rumors about the chairman but officials have declined to comment in detail. That stuff is really causing a lot of pressure, said Hashem Ghoneim of El Nour Securities. Shares in the firm ended at a year-low of LE 6 ($1.12). Market heavyweight Orascom Construction Industries also ended the day lower, slipping 0.83 percent to LE 332.50, while big cap investment bank EFG-Hermes lost 0.68 percent to LE 48.01. Shares in appliance maker Olympic Group lost 2.38 percent to LE 50 after HSBC cut its price target to LE 85 from LE 98.
